Before Adam
by markab
Summary: Set at a time when the Earth had no moon and a so called 'Adam and Eve' are forced to leave their paradise and live in a savage world of unknown terror. Themes from the bible with a fantasy twist!
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1 - Forbidden fruit**_

Zull had been chasing the wild boar for many cycles - the sun long passed the zenith. His spear always piosed ready to strike at the earliest opportunity. The paradise he lived in shaded the hot sunshine, the rich green foliage lush around him giving him shade, his bare foot on the cool soils of the ground.

The boar was scurrying into the bushes as it gave up it's hiding place. Zull rose the spear, his long dark mane of hair flowing about his shoulders long bronzed by the sun. He squatted and became statue still as the boar came into clear view, and the silent swiftness of one stroke, the spear was stuck within the swines beastly heart.

There was no squealing, the animal lay dead where it fell. Zull hurried over and took his flint knife out from a pouch within in his deerskin loins and began to gut the creature ready for the fire.

His mate Tsa was at a splendid fresh waterfall, it gushed down noiserly into a pool of giant fragrant waterlilies, and the pool eventually opened out into a fresh running stream. She stared down at her reflection in the clear water and touched her facial features, there was no background noise but for the waterfall.

Her long blonde hair rolled in front of her hiding her breasts. She turned her head and fixed her blue eyes onto the tree of forbidden fruit. For long as she could remember the guardian voice in her dreams told her never to pick the silver and gold fruit.

It was forbidden.

Forcing the thought to the back of her mind, Tsa smiled to herself and jumped into the pool and then went and showered herself beneath the icy waterfall.

Zull came out of the foliage and stared at her in awe as she forced her hair back with the water and closed her eyes, the carcus of the gutted boar over his strong powerful shoulder.

His Tsa was beautiful.

Feeling the urge growing in his loins, he threw the carcus to one side for later, and leapt into the cool waters to join her.

Love making in the din of the waterfall.

\- and after, the boar was soon cooking on a spit on the bank of the stream, the meaty aroma wofting as smoke into the night air as darkness took hold.

The darkness was pitch black. This is a time before Mother Earth had a Moon.

The cooking fires illuminated their faces as they sat and ate their meal, and after they both slept in the warm cave that was situated behind the waterfall, protected by man eating predators that dared to walk primal Earth.

That night Tsa dreamt of eating the shiny fruit that tasted devine, and in the dream Zull was yelling and screaming at her as he fell through a crack into the hell fires beneath the Earth.

She screamed out and awoke, eyes wide.

Zull turned and pulled her near and cradled her head, until her breathing was calm and she drifted off to sleep once again.

The dawn broke and the skies reddened from the west. The chorus of breaking bird song evaded from the treetops in the forests around them. Zull was already up, and after bathing in the cool pool, he was off into the forest and hunted for breakfast.

Tsa bathed herself when Zull was gone - she was still troubled by her dream. She turned her head and stared out towards the strange tree that bore the silver and gold fruit.

The guardian voice in her dreams warned her not to pick and eat the fruit. It was a voice that was old as time itself.

The hot morning heat dried her off at the bank of the pool. She turned her head towards the tree again and she thought she heard whispers. She stood and approached the tree, the hustle and bustle of small forest animals scurrying off into the brush around her.

The tree was in front of her. That forbidden fruit it beared ripe to pick. The sunbeams shone through the canopy of tall ancient juniper trees and the whispers were so alluring. But she had that other voice in her head, a mystery foreboding voice trying to heed her.

She slowly rose her arm from her side and reached out to touch the fruit, she licked her lips catching the sweet scent of the fruit up her nostrils.

She wanted to taste it...

Zull had downed a wild bird that had stood 3 foot high when alive. He had plucked the feathers clean off ready for roasting...and then the Earth shook.

The ancient ferns around him twisted on their roots and felled around him. Zull left the dead bird and hurried back to the cave, the ground started to pull away to reveal great cracks that vented out hot steams, it was like the land was angry.

Zull fell as the thundery din hummed and vibrated around him, he clapped his hands over his ears.

At the stream, Tsa was giggling to herself. She sat on the bank with her feet in the water somewhat totally oblivous of what was going on around her.

The disgarded peel from the consumed forbidden fruit laying next to her...

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Reviews or feedback would be great.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2 - Exodus**_

Zull was bent on his knees with his hands clamped firmly over his ears. The shaking of the ground got more and more violent around him. A panicked deer came crashing out of the brush and fell straight down to a firey death as a crack in the earth opened up ahead of it.

The fires rose out from the Earth's cracked wounds causing the ground to heat and tremor and it threatened to suck all life down to it's super heated bowls.

Zull clung to an ancient red juniper tree as the soil beneath his bare feet fell away and the tree toppled and finished up across the other side of the crack that formed around him. He clung on for dear life from where he hung, his legs dangling down into the firey abyss. He could feel himself starting to roast, so he acted quickly and managed to raise his legs up and wrap them around the trunk, until he could manage to shuffle himself along to the waiting ledge and roll himself to safety.

After rolling away from the ledge, he stood up and made his way back to the stream, the shaking around him was all the more evident. Fallen trees blocked his path so he had to climb over or go around them, either way it hampered his journey back to his lair.

Tsa laid back along the riverbank and looked up to the clear azore skies, not noting to herself the reason why she could now see them because usually the forest canopy blotted it out from view. The trees were down around her, but eerily, the forbidden fruit tree stood still and defiant.

Zull crashed out of the brush and instantly saw his mate lying near the red hot stream, the waterfall was no more but hot steam. the pool's waters reaching boiling point. Tsa was in a state of a trance, Zull noted the peel from the forbidden fruit still lying next to her, the skin turning a deathly black, like it was rotten.

He managed to lift her slender body into his strong arms and they were forced to escape their former home. Zull clung onto Tsa trying to stay erect on his feet, he stared ahead as the shaking continued, to see the high jagged cliffs raise up over the ruined forests edge, rocks and boulders came crashing down to the base...and then the shaking ceased.

Zull placed Tsa to the ground gently and then turned around to look upon the devastation that was once their paradise garden. It was no more than a graveyard of fallen trees and raging fires.

After the fires had done their worst, he knew that nothing was left of their once haven.

Zull found a vacant cave at the top of the cliffs surrounding the crater that confined the catastrophy.

The dusk cycle had come, and Tsa laid in the dark cave breaking out into a red hot fever. Zull feared the fever, what curse was set upon his mate? She had eaten the forbidden fruit, was this linked...had she been poisoned by it's deadly magic.

Thinking back, when he looked down into the crater, he remembered seeing the forbidden tree. It stood out like a beacon among the devastation around it.

And then the darkness came forth from the west, everything faded and disappeared into the pitch black as Earth's moonless night took hold.

Zull worried about Tsa, but in his tiredness he quickly feel to slumber beside her in the cave, the fire burning bright outside to ward off any monstrous beast that would attack them.

As dawn broke, Tsa's fever started to subside and she was well enough to stand up and go forth out of the cave. The ledge outside the cave faced the crater and she stared down to the ruins of a once beautiful paradise.

The morning breeze was gentle on her face and silently moved her hair into her eyes and she swept it back. She dared to look down and focused on the distant glow of the tree. The forbidden tree, it still stood and flourished even after being scorched by hells fires.

Zull was then behind her. He was relieved that she had recovered from the fever. He took her arm and pulled her in an upward direction over the ledge, Tsa screamed out and was pointed back into the direction they had come from. A snaking river of hot and steamy substance was crawling out from the crater. Hells blood runs thick and was determined to end their futile existance.

He grabbed hold of her hand tightly and pulled her towards his chest, then he turned her and helped her up onto the chipping ledge that overhung above them. He took one final look down into the crater and followed her, leaving their once sanctuary behind for good.

Zull and Tsa laid upon the cliff top and stared up to the blue azore skies, the breeze had picked up. Zull sat himself up and pulled his hair out of his face, the grit in the breeze getting into his eyes.

The land past the ridge was barren. it was like a neverending wilderness that went to the horizon in all directions. He sighed and held out his hand to Tsa and pulled her to her feet, her long blonde hair swept back in the stiff hot breeze.

Tsa wondered where they would go and Zull pointed to the south from the direction the breeze came from. She nodded.

Hand in hand they strode on away from the ridge and into the wilderness and into the unknown world that awaited them.

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Reviews and opinions are always appreciated. A massive thanks to those who have.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3 - The secrets of the beach**_

The sea water crashed onto the soft golden sands that stretched for eternity in both directions. Zull negotiated the sandy browe of the hill and looked down, Tsa was beside him. They had come to the end of the wilderness, both were badly skin burnt from the angry blazing sun.

For both of them, the marvel of the sea was a first. The waters seemed endless and met the horizon in the distance. Never before had they seen such an awesome spectacle. Of course they had seen a river, a stream and a lake, but not an ocean, this was a thing of legend. How could such a body of water like this even exist?

White and gray tipped gulls screamed in the blue skies above and glided out towards nesting places on jagged islets further out to sea.

Looking at one another, they slowing headed towards the shores edge, Tsa braving a toe into the strange foamy water. There was a stiff breeze blowing in that felt refreshing as it hit their hot sweaty bodies.

Hand in hand they skirted the coastline into the direction of some high rugged limestone cliffs, hopefully a cave would give them shelter in this strange forebaring world that was now their new home.

On reaching the coastal range, Tsa watched on as Zull scaled the cliffs to find a cave, when he disappeared out of sight amongst the jagged juts, Tsa's attention was towards the ocean again. The sun's rays were dancing on the waves as if the water was communicating with her.

The wind was still strong against her face and she wondered whether she and Zull were the only people that walked Mother Earth.

Her mind wandered to a time long ago. Both she and Zull had come from a tribe in the far lands. Memories were becoming vague, but she remembered the day she and Zull followed the adults out on the hunt. It had been exciting at first watching the men of the tribe scout out and stalk a timid beast like a deer. But then darkness came and the Earth's moonless night cylce took hold as they became lost in the thick forest.

It was a voice that saved them. A mysterious voice that saved them from the jaws of a stalking carnivore in the darkness. A voice in their dreams that led them both forth into the paradise valley that became their recent home.

They just needed to stay away from the forbidden fruit tree. And they did.

Tsa closed her eyes tightly as she remembered. She had gone against this primal voice. She had picked the forbidden fruit from the ageless tree and the valley was destroyed.

A tear started to roll down her cheek. It was all her fault.

She swallowed down and turned around and strolled along looking to her bare feet as they dug into the hot sand, the shadow suddenly crossed her face blocking out the sun so she looked up.

She stood stock still and put her hands to her face. Her eyes went wild and she opened her mouth and screamed out in terror.

High above the ledge Zull reacted at his mates scream. He scrabbled along the loosened ledge. He rolled along the incline and fell on his feet onto the soft sands and bolted around the corner to where Tsa stood stock still.

She was standing at a foot of a stake that was buried in the sand. The stake bared the rotten remains of a skeleton. It had been clearly picked clean by vultures.

Zull came to her side kicking the sand ahead of him, he pulled her back and looked up to in the shadow of the stake, the faceless skull looked down upon him, it looked like it was grinning at him.

The wretch had been tired up in twine weed.

What creatures could do this to a man. What soul less savage beasts could act in this manner?

There was a line of poor souls. Each hanging from their stakes. Empty sightless eye sockets staring out to the sea.

Zull moved his mate away from the rude scene. Just before Tsa's cry, he had located a cave for them high up on the ledge.

That night they slept soundly in the warm cave but by dawn they were both very hungery and were very thirsty.

Tsa ran to the sea line and cupped her hands. The water looked so refreshing to drink. She scooped some up and put it to her mouth, then spat it out.

The water was vile. It had something sour in it.

She backed away from the sea unbeknown to her that she was being watched.

Zull meanwhile was out hunting. He had crafted a spear from a small pine tree and a flint he dug from the land. It wasn't long before he found tracks on the plain. He recognised them those of a wild boar.

As he turned the corner he saw the boar...or what was left of the beast because it had been half torn and eaten away.

Dispondant, he backed away only to come face to face with something that hunched over him. Something that's breath stuck of rotten flesh. Something that was twice as big as him on it's hunches.

It was a massive beast and the jaws of death were salivated at him.

Ready to pounce.

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	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4 - Ancient Ur**_

The proud ancient city of Ur.

It's bronze gates pulled away as the sword and shielded warriors headed out on their beautifully decorated horses. The sun blazed it's glory down across the wilderness as the legion of warriors rode towards the beach, plooms of dust clouded the skies as it was kicked out behind them.

A lone warrior had reported seeing strangers on the beach. This territory belonged to ancient Ur and those whom dared to trespass would pay dearly for their crime.

As the Captain of the warriors rode his horse to the ledge overlooking the windswept sealine, he held up his arm to halt the others that rode behind him. They were hungery for the kill.

There was a commotion on the beach, he looked down to see a half naked male in a loin cloth in the position of being mauled to death by a *giant Skadon.

Through cold eyes, the captain rose his blood stained sword and kicked the side of his horse. He charged down the sandy bank to the beach at top speed.

The shaggy beast that no longer lives in our time turned its salivating jaws away from mauling Zull. The thing was about to rip out his neck. The things eyes focused on the approaching soldier with his sword in the air catching the gleam of the sun.

The ten foot beast moved away from Zull who managed to roll away from the nightmare hound.

The stranger upon the horse strode fast upon the hot sands as the skadon stood defiant. It was ready to pounce and as it did the captains sword rose to the air and cut clean through the beasts neck, beheading the creature in one swift stroke.

The things body spasmed on the sand, the head rolling towards the sea. Zull looked up from where he lay, the sun blotting out his vision as the horse came to tower over him. The dark silhouette of the warrior-rider looking down upon him. A language being uttered that he could not interpret.

His head bolted to the side when he heard the scream. It was Tsa. Zull squinted through the horses legs to view his mate being dragged up the beach towards them by two other warriors. These strangers upper faces were all hidden by helmets made of human skulls.

These were the bronze age folk Zull had heard legend about from his kin when he was still small. These folks lived in stone caves rather than the traditional natural ones that scattered the world.

He thought it was all stories. He didn't believe that it all could be true. But it was.

It seemed that his way of life was dying out in the world. These bronze age peoples were the way of the future.

Zull managed to climb to his feet as Tsa and the two warriors that held her tight came to a halt.

Through the eye sockets of the mask he wore, a mask made from some poor lost soul of the past, the captain stared at Zull with cold harsh eyes and barked orders to his men. Zull was siezed and dragged to a nearby stallion. The warriors seemed to possess some form of superhuman strength because he couldn't move out from their tight grip, whose sharp taloned nails cut into his arms.

He was forced down to the sand and his wrists and ankles were tied tightly with thick twine. One of the masked warriors then picked him up and through him over the back of the stallion. Tsa wasn't tied up, she was made to sit behind the captain on his horse and it took the lead as the legion of troops rode forth back to ancient Ur.

Ancient Ur loomed across the bleak suncracked wilderness. The strong hot breezes swept them along the way. Zull was suffering sun burning again until blisters came up all over his body. He managed to look up and see for the first time a man made city on the approach.

Ancient Ur had stood many a cycle. Even their cave dwelling ancestors at time's dawn lived at its foundations.

The stone caves and temples to unknown gods rose above him as they entered through the bronze gates. Once through the city gates they stopped in a palmed court yard where men and woman lived. Men looked up from their work and stared at them, woman were washing cloths of a strange garb in the communial centre pool also looked up. There was whispers and awe as they looked on and pointed at the strange savages that were Zull and Tsa.

The Warrior captain pointed to a stone building and barked orders to his fellow warrior jumping off a horse next to him. The warrior man-handled Zull, and lugged him from the back of the horse and them dragged him across the stoney ground leaving a trail of blood where his skin was torn from the bone.

Tsa gasped and went to follow her mate, but the captain held out his arm and barred her way. With cruel lustful eyes the captain stared down at her naked beasts and a smirk came to his lips. Tsa shied away, her blonde wavy hair blowing in the gusty breeze that whipped up around them.

His smirk then faded and he snatched hold of her arm and pulled her into the direction of a tall stone building that was guarded by ushers with ornate bronze spears. She gasped out and tried to struggle and fight her way out of his clutches, but the captain slapped her and she slammed to the ground, the captain then grabbed her hair and she screamed out in terror as she was literally dragged on her back into the cool dark dwelling.

Inside it was cool and refreshing. Torches burned in wall brackets aluminating the stone tunnel like corridors and passages.

Tsa was made to stand and was pushed into a chamber that opened up wider. As her eyes focused in the dim light, she saw a raised dias and on this dias was an ivory throne. Sat on it was a half naked figure in strange garbs called silk. The figure wore a headress that was held in place by a crown of gold in the shape of a serpent.

This was the Shama of Ur, Ruler of the world.

And his cruel dark eyes looked down to Tsa...and he licked his lips.

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* A Skadon is probably a prehistoric _Hyhenadon_ a creature that died out long ago.

Reviews and opinons are always welcomed.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5 - The Shama of Ancient Ur**_

The moonless night fell upon ancient Ur.

Tsa had been bathed in cool waters inside a dark stone temple. Strangely garbed women towelled her dry and combed her hair with shell combs. Faces and bodies aluminated by fire from the torch light. None of the women spoke to her, they simply led her through a dark gloomy passage back to the throne chamber.

Tsa was then clothed in unearthly silks and made to stand before the ivory throne. It was vacant, she was alone in the room. She wondered about Zull and what had become of her mate.

She looked up to see the Shama enter the chamber from a side tunnel. His gold serpent band keeping his silken headress in place. Infact all his jewellery gleamed in the soft torchlight.

He looked at her and then spoke, surprisingly Tsa could understand what he was telling her. The Shama told her that he was fully aware of the savages that dwelt in the caves to the north.

Tsa took advantage of this nice side. Until now these people of Ur were very unjust and brutal in their actions to her. She told the Shama about how she and Zull got lost from their people as babes, and then about how they ended up in the beautiful but now gone paradise garden.

The Shama sat on his ivory throne and dismissed of everything she was telling him. That all didn't matter because he had already decided that she would be his new bride. His new savage bride.

Tsa stared into the rulers ice cold eyes. She dared not refuse him because she got the impression that she didn't have a choice in the matter. This man was the king of ancient Ur. The ruler of the world.

He clapped his hands and two naked woman came out from the shadows and took an arm each. The Shama barked an order and they quickly pulled Tsa down a torchlit passage to a cool chamber.

There was a bed on the stone floor made from thick mammoth hair. Their giant metre long tusks were angled like a four poster. A mesh net over hung the tusks keeping out the biting insects at night.

When she was alone, she sunk down to the floor and wrapped herself beneath the warm mammoth fur. And as she closed her eyes and slept, the guardian voice came to her dreams. The voice told her to be brave, for the spirit of her kin would look after her.

The mysterious guardian voice spoke in Zull's dreams as well, telling him not to give up. He had been severely mistreated. He was chained to a stinking wall made up of human skulls that stretched from floor to ceiling of the dungeon.

Skeletons laid strewn over the soiled stone floor. Bones that had been broken up and crushed under foot. Skulls and bones of folk long lost and forgotten by the people of Ur.

When dawn came, he was unchained and stripped naked. He was then dragged up the stone steps that led out to the hot morning sunshine. The harsh sun was blinding him.

Crowds of citizens of Ur cheered. They lined the square looking at him, he was like an exhibit to gorp at. Zull felt shame and humiliation because of his nakedness.

Zull was surrounded by the warrior guards and each took it in turns to whip him harshly with leather straps, the crowds cheered and rejoiced. Zull was covered in lesions and welts, the cuts oozed blood that dripped to the sand at his feet.

He was now on all fours and in turn the leather whips lashed down on him. He looked up to see the crowds part and his mate Tsa was sat on the rump of a *Laden. The Shama of ancient Ur rode upon a second beast of burden. His animal was decorated with silks and colourful paints.

Courtier men with crowns of bronze blew into their horn shell trumpets and announced their rulers presence in the square.

The two great Ladens came to a halt and the Shama announced his plans to bond with the savage she from the caves.

Zull realised what was to become of his mate. The bronze age ruler was stealing his wife. Zull was in despair, he went to rise to his cut feet, but a sharp warriors sword threatened to behead him on the spot.

Zulls fate would see him be hurled into a pit of deadly vipers. And once the serpents had pumped his body full with their lethel venom, his lifeless body would be heaved out of the pit and taken to the beach where he would be tied to a stake and the vultures and carrion birds would devour him, until he was nothing but a rotten skeleton bleached by the sun.

Zull was hense thrown back to the dungeon to await that grisly fate to become a reality. He hung from the wrist cutting chains, the eyes of a thousand skulls staring back at him. He needed help, there was no way he could safe himself.

The guardian voice came to him. It told him that he and Tsa would be avenged for their mistreatment.

The wicked ruler of ancient Ur and his cruel peoples would be punished. This came to him as he slipped in and out of conciousness.

Ur would pay dearly for what it had done...

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* Laden is a mastodon, a type of elephant that lived before the last ice age.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6 - Sacrificial terror**_

The screams of a 100 women cried out in ancient Ur. Each and everyone of them a scream of terror, for the water of the wash pools had turned to blood and were chucking off a stench of unclean death.

The warriors idling by the river and the lake, set on the sun baked plain outside the city walls, stared out in sheer horror as the hot morning sun shone out over inky red waters. The stench of a thousand deaths were fouling up making their throats wrench.

The jumping fish lept out from the bloody waters only to perish and die anyway upon the suncracked land.

The Shama of ancient Ur rose from his slumber and was led by his man-slaves to the stone steps of his temple and climbed to the roof to witness the lake and the river himself.

The red haze of death engulfed his vision through tight eyes. The warrior captain at his side telling him that something had angered the gods by turning their life-water into blood.

Tsa came out of her stone dwelling and saw the crowds of people holding up their hands and wailing in despair. What ever could have happened?

And Zull, oblivious to the events, could only hear the solemn cries of folk above. But he was surprized to see that his chains had been released. His cut wrists were sore but he couldn't fathom how the chains had been cut because they have been pulled apart.

He jumped up onto his feet and although naked, he left the rotten stench of the dungeon behind him and hurried up the steps.

The Shama of ancient Ur was confused by his subjects predicament, but his high priest hobbled over to his side on the temple roof top, and pointed out a bent wizened finger to the slender figure that stood in the crowds. Tsa. It was the strangers that angered the gods of Ur, they have displeased them with their savage presence.

And a crack of thunder echoed out over the city of Ur. The high priest looked up through his yellow eyes, his skin a deathly pale green.

The Shama agreed to this and feared this was a bad omen. He ordered his warriors to seize Tsa, for she would be sacrificed to the god of the sea. The high priest was delighted about this, the gods would be appeased by the sacrifice.

Tsa was dragged off her feet and slung up against a wall where her wrists were twined together tightly, so tight it was enough to cut of her blood supply.

And as she was marched through the city square by the palace guards, she was spat upon by the citizens branding her an vile demon.

She was stripped naked and whipped to the ground, women spat on her, men grabbed her ready to throttle the lifeforce from her.

The high priest knelt before the ivory throne. The Shama wanted to know if the sacrifice would be enough and the priest smiled through yellow pointed teeth, the gods would only be appeased if they are sacrificed as a pair and that was how it must be.

It was set for zenith the next day.

When dawn broke, Tsa was unchained from the temple of rotten skulls and then bathed clean in the pool house for the blood had turned back to water. The gods would be appeased.

Cleansed for the sacrifice, the high priest entered and incense burnt in a bronze urn that made her lightheaded and see double. The priest was chanting to the gods.

Slave-girls towelled her dry and they whispered chants as well. Tsa looked towards the high priest who stared back at her through cold yellow eyes.

Zull meanwhile had escaped the city and hid out in the wilderness beyond the city walls. During the darkness cycle, he had crafted a spear and hunted a wild mountain goat. The skin had given him a loin cloth and the meat fed his belly.

He needed to keep his strength up to rescue Tsa because he was going to free her from the wicked ruler of Ur.

He mused about what had occurred in the city. The water had been turned to blood, his chains had been broken. Was his guardian voice responsible?

The skies looked dark, the usual azore blue faded away. Zull shuddered, he was chilled to the bone, he sensed fear within himself.

But fear of what?

It seemed that zenith time will see no light of the sun. How he wished for the blazing suns warmth upon his cheeks.

The sound of shell horns were carried on a stirring wind. Zull leapt towards the plain overlooking ancient Ur. The city's gate was opening and a caravan of warriors stepped onto the plain and ahead of this caravan was the high priest and his priestets burning incense around them.

There was 20 horse back riders and 10 Ladens. 2 Ladens carried a litter where Tsa laid in a trance like state, and behind her the Shama and his court of viziers and aids, all their silk finery flapping about in the rising gale.

What did these wicked people have in store for his mate?

Zull decided he had to follow and take his chance in rescuing her...

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	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7 - Lifes liberator**_

The caravan from ancient Ur snaked across the bleak windswept wilderness. Zull followed close behind, watching high above on the jagged limestone ridges that jut up from the dusty plains.

Zull had an inner excinct that the caravan was heading towards the endless ocean, and in his mind he saw what the bronze age folk were planning as he remembered what they had seen along the beach. The human remains hanging from the stakes. That was the fate of Tsa and himself if they captured him.

Now upon the windswept beach, the caravan came to a halt on the soft sands. The skies seemed to darken and the ocean waters started to foam as the wind picked up to gale force.

Tsa was plucked out from the safety of the silken litter on the Ladens back, and led by two warriors to a vacant stake on the coast line. The high priest watched on beside the Shama, both had eyes as cold as steel.

Tsa was tied to the stake stark naked, her wrists and ankles were tightly wrapped by thick twine that cut into her skin.

She was still dazed by the cruel incense that had poured out of the bronze urn earlier, but it was starting to wear off.

The wind picked up further and darkened clouds started to roll in over them. The deathly green skinned high priest licked his cracked lips and stared up towards the heavens and he prayed to the sea god that would be appeased. They should have been sacrificed as a pair and he hoped that the gods would show mercy for letting the male savage escape them from his dungeon.

Watching high above from the ridge, Zull's mane of dark hair blew madly about him as the gale became fierce. There was a crack of thunder as lightening zig-zagged the dark skies. Was this the wrath of the city dwellers strange god?

Tsa opened her eyes, the burning incense now gone from her system. She realised that she could not move, she was tied up so tightly that she could feel her skin cut and tear and bleed.

She screamed out in terror but over the din of the gale nobody heard her. Zull kept his eyes fixed to her from where he hid along the ledge of limestone cliffs.

The Shama of ancient Ur smiled a cruel grimace. He was satisfied that he and his people would be spared from the sea gods anger. The High priest nodded affirmication and they each turned and with their silken garbs flapping about them, they boarded their waiting Ladens.

The skull masked warriors on horse back led the caravans exodus from the beach. Tsa's fate fixed.

The thunder intensified, the lightening crossed the skies every second. Tsa's blonde hair blew about her face at the swirling vortex of the unearthly wind.

Zull waited until the people of Ur had gone, then he leapt down from his hiding place. Zull landed upon the soft sands that blew around the darkness, the jagged peaks of the cliffs lighting up when the lightening struck.

And the thunder echoed out from the leaden skies.

Tsa closed her eyes, she didn't want to think about what would become of her and what horrible death was waiting for her. The sea was rough and foamy as she heard the shout. The shout of her name, something was calling her name within the gruelling wind.

And she realised it was Zull, her beloved mate. His hands raised to her cheeks. She was safe, he was going to rescue her and take her away from this cruel nightmare.

She closed her eyes and smiled against the wind as she thought about their future. They would find another paradise garden and live happy ever after how it should be, how the guardian voice said it would be.

Zull made for a sharp flint within his furred loins, and then went to work in cutting the thick twine that bound her so tightly to the stake. Within moments, Tsa's hands were free from the wrist cutting binds, she held herself in place as he went to work on the ones that bound her ankles.

Once done, she jumped into Zull's strong arms, she was saved they were going to be okay.

The wind suddenly stopped blowing and there was an eerie calm. It was too silent. A silence that was deafening.

Their hair was still. The sky was black with no lightening. Tsa grabbed for Zulls arm, she sensed an unknown danger.

They were alone again.

Zull turned towards the sea. The sea was gone. There was no more foamy waves crashing onto the beach. It instead was a vast plain of sand that stretched out as far as the eye could see. There was dead fish on the wet sand. Dead fish, crabs, sharks and other giant monstrosities that thankfully no longer exist today. All perished when the sea was sucked away.

Zull swallowed and pulled Tsa closer to his chest, she could feel his heartbeat quicken. Tsa knew her mate sensed the unknown peril as well.

Both looked towards the dry sea of dying fish, crabs and sharks and then saw the shimmering wall of water that was coming their way. Zull's eyes widened and pulled Tsas head to his chest, forcing her gaze away from the terror wave.

He closed his eyes tight and heard the din of the wave approaching. An incredible display of fireworks erupted in the heavens as Mother Earth spawned a Moon.

The last thing he heard was the guardian voice telling them that he was taking them home.

THE END


End file.
